Top Turkish firms stop placing ads on US-based online platforms

Amid a diplomatic row between Turkey and the United States, top Turkish firms are joining in a campaign to stop placing ads on US-based online platforms, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Tuesday.

In line with the campaign, Turkish firms’ ads are being pulled from US platforms such as Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.

Leading telecommunications service provider Türk Telekom and the country’s flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) have both announced they are also joining the campaign, which has spread on social media.

Hamdi Ateş, Türk Telekom’s corporate communications head, said the company has told advertising agencies not to place its ads on US sites.

“The Turk Telekom family is joining the #NoAdsinUS campaign, standing on the side of our state and our people. We have told our agencies,” he tweeted, using the Turkish hashtag #ABDyeReklamVerme.

Yahya Üstün, THY senior vice president for media relations, also said the carrier is joining the campaign.

“Turkish Airlines stands on the side of our state and our people,” Üstün said on his Twitter account.

Moreover, Turkey will not use US products in construction, the environment and urbanization minister announced on Tuesday, in response to what Ankara has labeled the “economic war” against the country’s currency, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

The statement from Murat Kurum arrives as the lira traded at a record low on Monday, losing more than 40 percent of its value against the dollar this year following this month’s US sanctions and tariff increases on steel. Kurum stressed that representatives of the real estate sector will “fight with all their strength against the economic siege” of Turkey.

Turkish banking regulator limits credit card spending

Meanwhile, Turkey’s banking regulator has placed new limits on credit card installments amid a currency crisis, according to a report by online news outlet T24.

The new regulations ban the use of installments for the purchase of jewelry, telecommunications devices, overseas goods, food, alcoholic beverages, fuel, cosmetics, office equipment and gift cards.

Credit cards can now only be used for a maximum of 12 months of installments for the purchase of goods or services or borrowing money. Only three monthly installments will be possible for electronic goods, while computers and travel payments will be limited to six months and payments relating to health or taxation will be limited to nine months.

The new regulations also limit the timeframe during which debt restructuring can take place for credit card debt.

Turkey’s Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak on Tuesday said the US dollar has lost its reliability as it has the potential to inflict a shock on the global economy, especially on Europe, the T24 news website reported.

“[This crisis] has generated beneficial results regarding the structure of the Turkish economy. What Turkey is facing today reveals that we need to build a far stronger structure for our economy,” Albayrak said at a symposium organized by the pro-government SETA think tank in Ankara.

“In the coming period, you’ll see the lira stronger. They have been unable to create either panic or worry in the markets,” he added. Albayrak also said Turkey would take every necessary measure to ease the pressure on the markets and its citizens.

Turkish FM: Sanctions imposed by the US shattering its own reputation

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu claimed on Tuesday that sanctions imposed by the United States on Turkey are shattering the US’s reputation. “The era of bullying must end,” Çavuşoğlu said during a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, at the 10th Ambassadors Conference in Ankara.

“If the US wants to continue being a reputable country, it cannot do so with these impositions,” he said, referring to the sanctions. “We are against the US or any country imposing sanctions,” he added.

For his part, Lavrov said that the US’s “unlawful and illegitimate” sanctions policy cannot last for long.

The five-day ambassadors’ conference is hosting 249 Turkish ambassadors and two chargé d’affaires as well as a number of foreign diplomats.

Turkey and the US are currently experiencing rocky relations following Washington’s imposition of sanctions on two government ministers after a Turkish court’s decision to put American pastor Andrew Brunson under house arrest after almost two years of incarceration on charges of “terrorism” instead of releasing him as demanded by the US.

Last Friday President Donald Trump ramped up his attack on Turkey by doubling US tariffs on Turkish aluminum and steel imports. The Turkish lira has suffered from the row, losing enormous value against the US dollar. (SCF with turkishminute.com)